The Missing Action
by Izzu
Summary: He might as well start writing that report.
1. Chapter 1

_"Yoo Sijin and Seo Daeyoung's duty is writing a report about what happened."_

 _"It should be as thick as the Bible."_

Why wasn't he surprised that Colonel Park would pull something like that on them? Then again, that man knew far too well that report-writing was one of Sijin's most hated task to do. But the two of them had barely able to get a proper rest after all the things that happened to them. You'd think someone would go _easy_ on them for once. As if the last two months trying to find their way across deserts, swamps, unfamiliar lands to find help wasn't hard enough. And they did that without having anything on themselves, aside from their worn winter military uniforms.

And why did that old guy need to feel so bitter about them not paying him much attention? It was not as if they were _that_ close to each other. Seo Daeyoung snorted to himself as he glanced towards Sijin. The idiot was tracing his fingers warily over a piece of paper.

"What're you doing?"

"I'm more afraid of A4 than C4. Look at this sharp edge. It can cut you and it really hurts."

Sometimes Sijin was just amazing. After all these times this guy always had one thing about him that barely changed. Sometimes he wondered why he even _allowing_ himself to be used by this cheeky bastard. Aside from those few rare times when he was depressed enough or moody enough to bother sitting down in front of a computer to write a report, Sijin _rarely_ volunteered himself to commit to the task of report-writing. And usually, the one who _will_ end up writing it all was him. A guy who was _supposed to be less educated_ than the said military academy graduate.

Sometimes he had to wonder what was it that _traumatised_ the kid so much to view report-writing as a scary task.

He frowned.

"Why do I have to write the report?" Daeyoung asked as Sijin grinned.

"Lieutenant Yun is in Uruk. Your girlfriend is away and you've got time."

He could only watch in silence as Yoo Sijin skipped out of the office, leaving him to work on the report by himself. Despite that, he couldn't even muster enough energy to be angry at the younger man.

Funny how little things like this could be so comforting. Having that annoying brat dumping all of the troublesome jobs on him. Daeyoung snorted. Just the very fact that the brat was still around to do all of the annoying things to him made him happy. Because he nearly lost that brat for good.

That brat Yoo Sijin.

xxx

 _ **April 9th, 2015**_

 _ **Alpha Team, with the exception of Captain Yoo Sijin and Master Sergeant Seo Daeyoung, have left on chopper Tango-Nine with the three rescued civilians. Considering the fact Alpha Team had swept the area prior to the chopper landing, we do not expect there to be any remaining hostilities in our immediate vicinity. Due to that oversight, we did not notice the approaching enemy and the fact that the two of us had been watched.**_

Daeyoung paused as he tried to recall the memories of that night again. He could still remember it vividly. Sijin was just talking about how they were going to head home soon... but before he could finish talking, his body gave a violent jerk. He could see clearly where Sijin was shot as he caught his friend.

He had been careless. He should have been more careful to make sure the area was still clear of any hostilities. If Sijin had forgotten about it, he should have remembered. The country was not entirely stable after all. He remembered how frantic he had been back then because he was all alone with Sijin and having no other backup. He couldn't even see where the sniper may be hiding or _know_ if the militia had them surrounded.

Daeyoung shook his head at the memory as he resumed typing the report.

xxx

The sound of the exploded missile jerked him awake right away, and he was greeted with another shock. He was inside a bunker, surrounded by the local militia.

He bit his lips as he tried to recall what happened prior to him being knocked out.

 _"You have to stay awake!"_

 _He had been shouting those words before he felt his shoulder being clipped. Another sniper shot. Yet, he couldn't concern himself with his own safety. Sijin's eyes had started to lose focus..._

 _He tried to force himself to move towards Sijin; he was so concentrated on doing so that he didn't notice that the militia had them surrounded. The moment he did his head was hit by the butt of a rifle._

At the thought of Sijin, his mind immediately became clear. He straightened up; despite the enemy soldier restraining him from his back, and started frantically looking around him for any sign of Sijin being around. He thought of the booming sound earlier and remembered the warning they received earlier about _a scheduled bombing_. If Sijin was still out there barely alive...

Just as the despairing thought of Sijin being left out alone about to overcome him, Daeyoung saw him.

A buff looking man, was dragging Sijin away by the arm... with his captain looking like a broken doll. He couldn't even be _sure_ if Sijin was still alive.

"Captain Yoo!"

He tried to lunge towards them. Who cares if he lived or die? Whatever the outcome he won't let anyone do anything to harm Sijin. Over his dead body!

Without warning, Daeyoung received another blow to his head and he was out.

xxx

He woke up to find himself in a small cell. Alone. If he had any strength left he would have punched himself hard. How did he end up here like this?

Daeyoung mournfully thought about Sijin's fate. If he could escape this place... and return home, what could he say? To Sijin's father, to Dr. Kang... what could he say to them? How he could not save Sijin, how he couldn't protect him...

 _How could he live with himself after that?_

He heard footsteps approaching, and the sound of a heavy door being opened. The footsteps sounded like there were several people approaching—and then he saw them. Two men were standing in front of the cell, one trying to unlock the cell door. Daeyoung tensed as he prepared to jump on them.

It was a risky move, but he needed to escape. But seconds later he froze, as another pair appeared from behind the two men. They walked into the cell carrying something heavy, before throwing it over his feet. The four immediately left, right after dumping the load on him and locking the cell door behind them.

It took him a while for Daeyoung to realise that the big lump in front of him was Sijin's body.

He rushed over, fearing that the body in front of him was lifeless and checked for Sijin's pulse. He heaved a big sigh as he realised his friend was still alive. Remembering the sniper shot from earlier, Daeyoung immediately unbuttoned Sijin's shirt to check on the injury.

The shoulder was bandaged sloppily but it looked like the bleeding had stopped. And he could see Sijin's chest _rising and falling_ with each laboured breath. Daeyoung lifted Sijin's body as he held him close.

He was so grateful that Sijin was _still_ alive.

* * *

A/N: Initially wanted to make this into an actual report, but then I realise I'm a Pisces too. I hate writing reports I already forgot how. So I might just tease only some bit of the report whenever I can.

I actually put aside a post explaining my take about the timeline regarding Sijin and Daeyoung's situation. But since this site had a policy about linking stuff, you guys might need to do an extra digging for it. I included the link on my fic post on AO3. But you guys can also go directly to my LJ comm site. Links in profile.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I'm going to cheat from using any reference from the Bourne series. That aside, I'm also going to make some allusions to actual real life things while keeping it vague. Since I barely remembered them, I had to depend on online articles. So if there's any misinformation, I apologise beforehand.

* * *

The sudden pull of the gravity caused him to wake up with a jerk. Daeyoung took a deep breath to calm himself.

He had been sleeping upright these few days. Because he was busy watching over Sijin.

Despite the fact Sijin was alive, he hasn't woke up yet. He hoped that it was only because Sijin had lost a lot of blood due to the sniper shot. And not because of some other reason.

He cast a short glance to his side and inadvertently gave a jump. Sijin was staring back at him, with a blank expression.

Immediately, he rushed to help Sijin to sit up.

"Can you recognise me?"

Sijin's eyes moved slightly before Daeyoung noticed that the captain was trying to tell him something. Realising how dry his lips was, Daeyoung caught the hint and grabbed the small glass of water that their captors had left for them. He hadn't touched them because he wanted to save it for Sijin. Daeyoung placed the cup to Sijin's lips before his friend started sipping on the water.

"You want something to eat?" he started to ask. Sijin shook his head.

If there was one thing he could have wished at the time, was that none of the militant members would come to check on them and notice that Sijin was awake. But it seemed his wish would not be granted anytime soon as Seo Daeyoung heard the creak of a heavy door opened somewhere...

xxx

 _ **After several days in captivity, I came to realise something about our militant captors. While some of the members appeared to consist of Ukrainian defectors, there were also some Russian members. And their reason for keeping the two of us alive was in order to extract military information about the strength of our Combined Force's allies. It was just an assumption at first, but I have a feeling that the militia has suspected that Captain Yoo Sijin was the leader of Alpha Team. Or at least figured out that Captain Yoo was ranked higher, due to the rank patches on our uniform.**_

 _ **During the first few weeks of our detention, the militia constantly interrogated the two of us for the information they wanted. Due to the injuries sustained by Captain Yoo prior to our captivity, he collapsed again after the next two interrogation sessions. The militia decided to divert their attention to me, without much result.**_

Sijin opened his eyes slightly as Daeyoung tried to get him to eat something.

"Sergeant Seo... you shouldn't... worry about me. When they come... to take you away, run. Leave me..."

He gave Sijin a hard shake before giving him a stern glare. "Stop talking nonsense! I'm not going to leave you here."

Sijin winced as he tried to push Daeyoung's hand away. But he was too weak to even do that.

"I'm just... going to be a burden..."

"You're not!" Sijin's eyes snapped open as Daeyoung raised his voice slightly. "I'm going to help you get out of this. You're gonna regain your strength and we'll get out of here together! I'm going to get you home to see your father and Dr. Kang. So enough of this and eat!"

That, put some sense into Sijin's head. Sijin managed to swallow a few spoonful of food before falling back to unconsciousness. He slowly lowered Sijin down to let him rest. Daeyeong placed a hand on Sijin's forehead and cursed slightly as the fever didn't let down a bit.

xxx

 _"Let's not write about being beaten up all the time. Let's say we fought back once a week and tried to escape once a month."_

 _"Let's write it as truthfully as we can."_

 _"We have to mix realistic and dramatic elements well."_

Daeyoung let out a long sigh before leaning out on his chair, massaging the fatigue out from his aching shoulders. How on earth should he try to add in some extra bits into the report while not making it too obvious that he was making up half of the things that he typed in it?

Because seriously, even if he _did_ somehow manage to write up the report to be as 'thick as a bible'... would there be anyone bothering to read all of them from start to finish? Most of the actual things that happened to them back then were pretty much the same thing after all. Sijin's high fever lasted for about a month and a half or so, and the militia kept trying to wear them out even more with their interrogations for the next two to three months. And during the last few weeks, those separatists seemed to grow much more frustrated that they didn't manage to get anything useful from them after a long time.

Oh, he remembered something that he managed to catch... in between the times he and Sijin were brought in and out from their cell. Somehow, either this militia group or another... had shot down a plane. A commercial aeroplane, in fact. Also, he found out that a military plane was shot down a few days prior to the other plane crash.

He should probably include that in the report as well. But he couldn't remember if he was able to see if the militia group had any hidden military instalments that would be powerful enough to shoot down a plane that was flying above the minimum safe altitude. To think those separatists had something like that in their arsenal, without having some kind of actual military aid from somewhere seemed hard to believe.

Daeyoung thought about that guy with a Spetznaz tattoo, who was amongst the men that took part in their interrogation. Was that man sent by the Russian government, or did he quit and joined the separatist by his own choice? Was the Russian military _involved_ with the militia?

Even then, he couldn't actually attempt to claim something was there _for sure_. Since these kinds of things could affect the diplomatic relationships of many countries.

"Aaaaah!" he exclaimed before his phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Myeongju. Before he could say anything as a greeting, Myeongju's voice cut through his words right away.

 ** _"How's it going with your report?"_**

He sighed.

"I'm feeling the pain of creative writing."


	3. Chapter 3

I don't usually do this, but do try to leave some comment on my fic once a while. Or put in a fav if you had nothing else to say. So that I'd know that there are people here actually reading and liking the thing I write.

* * *

It was their _actual_ first attempt at escaping, and they failed miserably. They were terribly outnumbered and they were barely armed. The hideout they were confined in, were as confusing as a maze. It didn't take the separatists much effort to round them up and throw them back into their small cell.

Daeyoung turned to look at Sijin as his friend seemed in a daze.

"Yoo Sijin... you all right? I thought I heard some bones break earlier." He turned to look at Sijin's right arm as it laid limp on his side.

"Don't remind me," Sijin said in a monotone voice. "The pain don't bother me much as long as I don't think about it. And don't worry about me too much. You're not in any better shape than I am."

He chuckled to himself. During the skirmish earlier, one of the Russian separatists had rammed him against the wall a bit too hard. It dislocated his right arm in the process.

"I'm fine. We're fine. We've been in much worse situation than this before. This is nothing."

Sijin sighed. "Sure..."

"We're going to get out of here. I promise you."

It was something he said to make light of the situation they were in. But perhaps it was also his own wish that somehow they would be able to escape from this predicament.

He never thought that wish would be fulfilled by the most unlikeliest of 'allies'.

xxx

He glanced up as he heard voices. His grasp in Russian was not very good... but he had a feeling that the two men standing in front of them were not going to take them out for tea. The rifles on their hands told him enough of what was to come...

In which what happened later surprised him a lot. There was a third man, and the man casually sneaked behind the two before shooting the men down. The third man knelt before the two fallen men as he searched their bodies to fish out a stack of keys.

 _Was there a dispute between the separatists?_ , he wondered. But then the man pulled down his face covers and every question he might have had in his mind was suddenly answered.

xxx

"How's the report?"

Daeyoung glanced up as Sijin cheekily grinned in front of him. He rolled his eyes at him.

"I'm just about to reach the part where we _actually_ escaped... and _now_ you finally asked about the progress? You're seriously leaving me to write this report by myself, aren't you?"

Sijin pouted at him. "Aww... don't fret so much. I'll pitch in a bit. You're about to write in things about Ahn Jeongjun, right? I'll take over on writing that part. Move over,"

He got up from his chair as Sijin sat in front of the computer. He stared at his friend sceptically. "Are you seriously going to finish the rest of the report by yourself?" he asked.

Sijin gave him a quick glance. "Only this part. I still have to depend on _you_ to add in the last part of the report. Help me out over here?"

"I helped you out a bit too much already. Do you know how much I struggled to write about the things that happened to us back then? I even have to make up stuff that didn't happen as well!"

His friend just waved his good hand at him. "Don't be so fussy..." Sijin started to say before continuing to type on the computer. Daeyoung had to shake his head at his friend.

"You're _really_ going to mention about Captain Ahn in this report?"

Sijin nodded. "Yeah," he replied, not letting his eyes off from the monitor. "It might not mean much but I wanted to make sure the higher ups know what our 'friend' did for us. It might even do him good too; if one day he could consider changing his allegiance and coming to stay here permanently. I'm going to write this part to the best of my ability!"

Daeyoung chuckled.

"You're really fond of Captain Ahn, aren't you?" he asked, despite already knowing the answer. "How's your trip with Dr. Kang? Did you have fun?"

Sijin giggled in response. Suddenly he felt that he _didn't_ want to find out more about the things that happened to Sijin during his trip.

xxx

They walked out of the underground prison to find the place relatively empty. The rest of the separatists have already left, and what remained of the group that stayed behind were lying dead in the corners. Both of them turned their attentions towards Ahn Jeongjun.

"Did you... do all this?" Sijin started to ask the man.

Captain Ahn immediately waved them off. "Don't give me too much credit for this. I only took down a few of those separatists that didn't leave this place fast enough. My only plan was getting the two of you out of this place, nothing more than that."

"But what happened to the rest of the militia? Why did they leave?" Daeyoung started to ask as well.

The man just shrugged. "I snuck into their ranks a few weeks ago to gain their trusts. It didn't take long for me to get the plan to work. With the recent uproar between the Ukrainian government and the Russians, the group was already feeling restless. It wasn't so hard to convince them that their location has been found out by certain intelligence organisations and that they had to move."

Sijin smiled. "Regardless, I am _very_ grateful."


	4. Chapter 4

_He was on his way into the other building, to finish the last bit of cleanup that he needed to do. He still kept the radio on, so he could still hear the activity in that particular hotel room._

 _The rest of the North Korean Secret Service agents had arrived to pick up Ahn Jeongjun. He could hear one of them talking to Captain Ahn as he made his way up. The agent told Captain Ahn to follow them back without any resistance. It didn't sound as if Ahn Jeongjun was allowed to have any other choice._

 _The lift opened as Sijin cautiously walked out of it, paying mind not to let any of the North Koreans see that he was nearby. He was about to take a step into the emergency staircase area before Captain Ahn's next word made him stop._

 _"...I'll pay for this snack even in the other world."_

 _"Thanks to you, I can go back to the Republic and die as a warrior."_

 _"Thank you."_

 _Sijin took out the earpiece from his ear, as he could barely hear the sound that sounded like Captain Ahn was chomping on the chococake that he gave to him the night before._

 _He'd done his part to do what he needed to do. Yet, a part of him wondered if there was any more that he could do for his friend._

xxx

He happened to find out about it by chance, as he was leading another black op operation abroad. He couldn't believe what he heard. Captain Yoo Sijin and his deputy Seo Daeyoung had died in a car accident. That piece of news, to him it didn't sound right. Because he knew Yoo Sijin well. Someone who was as good as him in terms of fighting skill, as well as intelligence, shouldn't have died over a simple thing like a car crash. It didn't sound right.

It really didn't sit well with him to accept the death of someone he grew to respect a lot as a fellow soldier, just like that.

So he did his own digging. He found out that the South Korean military had sent their Alpha Team of the Special Warfare Command to the Ukrainian-Russian border to help with the peacekeeping as well as search and rescue. He also found out about the bombing that supposedly the one that took the lives of both of the two soldiers. If he was like any other man, he would have stopped there. But it made him curious about the fact that no one managed to recover _their bodies_.

To be frank, just because no bodies were recovered didn't mean that they were _definitely_ alive. The bodies might have been removed discreetly or destroyed completely. But it could still mean that the two could have been alive. Either being stranded somewhere unknown to everyone, or they could have been captured and locked up somewhere. He was willing to bet on the latter.

Once he set his mind on it, he started looking up all of the contacts that he made during his career as a Special Mission Force soldier. Since he would need help to begin his solo mission. Trying to do what he planned to do without letting his commander know about it, would not be easy. And it would also be risky as well. Considering the fact Yoo Sijin was a South Korean soldier and he was a North Korean soldier. If any of his actions was found out, he could be tried as a traitor.

But he had a debt that needs to be paid. And that debt was not only to _one person_.

Ahn Jeongjun started to recall the face of the female doctor that he met half a year ago. The female doctor that he later found out to be Yoo Sijin's _girlfriend_.

 _"Please don't behave like you have nine lives."_

He kept the things she said to him at the hospital in mind even as he returned home. And because of that, he had himself undergo a surgery to remove the old bone fragment that was left near his spine. The surgery was a success. So he ended up owing his life to that female doctor as well.

He has to find out if Yoo Sijin was really dead. And if he was still alive, he has to make sure that Yoo Sijin would be able to return home to his loved ones.

If that meant that this mission could be his last, so be it.

xxx

 _"...I am very grateful."_

"This is as far as I go," said Ahn Jeongjun as Sijin turned to address him. He could also see a jeep approaching from afar, but it didn't look like they were coming to pick them up. They must be part of Captain Ahn's team.

"Thank you," he said again as Captain Ahn shrugged it off.

"I repaid what I owed. You guys figure out your way back home by yourselves. Good Luck."

It took him a while to realise what Captain Ahn had meant, before recalling the time when he overheard the conversation between Captain Ahn and his fellow North Korean officers. He never thought there would come a time where Captain Ahn would return that _old favour_ back to him. He didn't even consider that last one as a personal favour too. Because he was just doing his job, and he thought they already called it even between them.

Since Captain Ahn had given them the password to unlock the encryption on the SD microchip they got from him, and he returned that favour by saving Captain Ahn's life.

"Yoo Sijin..."

He glanced back towards Captain Ahn.

"I got you out of this pinch. So you better be hauling your ass back home safely. Don't make that _doctor_ cry even longer."

The thought of meeting Moyeon again made him smile.

"Of course. I give you my word."

Ahn Jeongjun nodded his head in acknowledgement, before walking away to rejoin his comrades.

xxx

Daeyoung craned his neck a bit more as he read every line of the written report critically. He snorted.

"Not bad. You managed to put in almost everything that Captain Ahn told you back then in this report. I'm impressed."

Sijin shrugged. "I do what I can..." he started to say before noticing the time. "Ah, that aside... how about the preparations for tomorrow?"

His friend straightened up at once. "You don't have to worry about that. Sergeant Choi and everyone already got it covered. I'm going to enjoy myself tomorrow before coming back to finish this shit of a report. Don't you dare interrupt my sleep tonight!"

Sijin chuckled at him before clicking on the save button on the word processor programme. "I wouldn't dare dream about that. I owe you so much, Sergeant Seo,"

Daeyoung rolled his eyes at him again. "Well, you better mean it. Or I could think up many things that could ruin your days in return."

Sijin started the process to set the computer to shut down.

"I hear you loud and clear."


End file.
